Hi, sorry if this is the wrong section i have just joined to ask this.
I have had many birds before but I have never weaned one before.
I got a ~6 week old alexandrine, the seller said that they were feeding twice a day.
Everything has been fine for the last 2 weeks, I have been very strictly following the temperature for the formula I got, and warming it with a bowl of warm water and not microwave, feeding with at first a syringe (not the long one into his crop but just into mouth) but then just from a spoon.
The crop empties every night and doesn't smell and droppings look fine.
Since 2 days ago he has started showing reduced interest in the formula, and today I can barely get him to have more than 5-6ml before he just starts flicking his head and throwing it everywhere.
He still makes the begging sound when he sees the preparation bowl but then stops eating after only a couple of mouthfuls, but still makes the sound for a while.
The problem is that he is still not yet eating enough solid foods to replace the formula, he has pellets, chop as well as chunks of vegetables available all day.
Over the past 2 weeks he has shown plenty of interest in these foods by mouthing/chewing them but not really eating, as I understand is normal.
I have tried offering them to him hot, cold, softened or mushed, mixed with formula/each other and everything else I can think of.
The stuff he has includes, corn, peas, chilli, broccoli, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, and sweet potato.
He won't eat any of it for the last couple of days, yesterday in desperation I just poured a bunch of seeds into his bowl which he will eat, but he's so slow at eating them I think he'd need to non stop eat for the entire day to get enough calories. But he loses interest after half an hour of munching (which at his pace is like a dozen seeds total) and will fly off back to his cage to preen or to me to snuggle.
If it means anything his peak morning weight was achieved just as he started showing less interest, which was 224g, if that morning was day 1, it is now the evening of day 3, and he is down to 220 after eating a tiny amount, where as just previously after eating he would be ~250.
To clarify that mess of words his weight has gone like this (where morning weight is pre-feed, evening weight is post-feed)
evening0(before the problem started)=255, morning1=224, evening1=245, morning2=220, evening2=236, morning3=216, evening3=220
He is almost fully feathered and is flying around, just the last couple days he has mostly gotten the hand of landing. When we first got him he slept in a box but he has started perching and is now in his covered cage, I keep the room to at least 24C.
He is still cuddly and interested in mouthing and chewing his toys and me, but perhaps slightly less so than a few days ago.
I have read that it is common for birds to lose a little weight as they wean or fledge, but the thing that concerns me is that it's happening from him barely eating as opposed to him eating less caloric foods.
Anyway to summarise he is still eating, just very small amounts not sufficient to maintain weight, and based on the pattern tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised to see him down to 210-ish
What should I do or try?
I have had many birds before but I have never weaned one before.
I got a ~6 week old alexandrine, the seller said that they were feeding twice a day.
Everything has been fine for the last 2 weeks, I have been very strictly following the temperature for the formula I got, and warming it with a bowl of warm water and not microwave, feeding with at first a syringe (not the long one into his crop but just into mouth) but then just from a spoon.
The crop empties every night and doesn't smell and droppings look fine.
Since 2 days ago he has started showing reduced interest in the formula, and today I can barely get him to have more than 5-6ml before he just starts flicking his head and throwing it everywhere.
He still makes the begging sound when he sees the preparation bowl but then stops eating after only a couple of mouthfuls, but still makes the sound for a while.
The problem is that he is still not yet eating enough solid foods to replace the formula, he has pellets, chop as well as chunks of vegetables available all day.
Over the past 2 weeks he has shown plenty of interest in these foods by mouthing/chewing them but not really eating, as I understand is normal.
I have tried offering them to him hot, cold, softened or mushed, mixed with formula/each other and everything else I can think of.
The stuff he has includes, corn, peas, chilli, broccoli, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, and sweet potato.
He won't eat any of it for the last couple of days, yesterday in desperation I just poured a bunch of seeds into his bowl which he will eat, but he's so slow at eating them I think he'd need to non stop eat for the entire day to get enough calories. But he loses interest after half an hour of munching (which at his pace is like a dozen seeds total) and will fly off back to his cage to preen or to me to snuggle.
If it means anything his peak morning weight was achieved just as he started showing less interest, which was 224g, if that morning was day 1, it is now the evening of day 3, and he is down to 220 after eating a tiny amount, where as just previously after eating he would be ~250.
To clarify that mess of words his weight has gone like this (where morning weight is pre-feed, evening weight is post-feed)
evening0(before the problem started)=255, morning1=224, evening1=245, morning2=220, evening2=236, morning3=216, evening3=220
He is almost fully feathered and is flying around, just the last couple days he has mostly gotten the hand of landing. When we first got him he slept in a box but he has started perching and is now in his covered cage, I keep the room to at least 24C.
He is still cuddly and interested in mouthing and chewing his toys and me, but perhaps slightly less so than a few days ago.
I have read that it is common for birds to lose a little weight as they wean or fledge, but the thing that concerns me is that it's happening from him barely eating as opposed to him eating less caloric foods.
Anyway to summarise he is still eating, just very small amounts not sufficient to maintain weight, and based on the pattern tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised to see him down to 210-ish
What should I do or try?
